Farmers from Portalegre described this Thursday as a “pleasant surprise” the rains that have fallen in recent days, during the dry season, but they feared that the heat would return and aggravate the sector’s problems.
Contacted by the Lusa agency, the president of the Portalegre District Farmers Association, Fermelinda Carvalho, considered that the rains that fell in the region in the last three days were a “surprise” and that they are “very welcome” in a year. dry.
“It was a pleasant surprise the amount of rain that has fallen in the last three days, at a time when we are experiencing one of the worst droughts that we all remember. These rains are very welcome,” she said.
According to the president of the AADP, there are records of small ponds, in certain areas of that region, that have already been filled, but she warned that, for the most part, the water lines “are not yet working.”
“Dams, as a rule, only fill when the ground starts to overflow, when the streams start flowing and we’re not at that point yet. This falling water is all absorbed by the ground that was very deficient”, he added.
However, the official considered that these first rains are “a good help”, giving as an example the production of olives, a fruit that was “very much in need” of water to improve its quality.
“I think that [a chuva] The production that this year is weak will still help a lot, in some olive groves it was even completely lost due to the heat and lack of water, ”he said.
Fermelinda Carvalho also indicated that these first waters bring to the sector the “expectation” of developing some pastures and crops, but that depends on the evolution of the warm weather, which may yet return.
“There is an expectation that this rain will allow the development of some pastures. It depends a lot on the heat that continues and whether or not it continues to rain and also in relation to the preparation of the soil for the next planting”, he observed.
Regarding the harvest, which is taking place, and in a first analysis, Fermelinda Carvalho considered that the rain “does not change” the quality of the grapes, but, if the heat returns, it can harm some varieties.
“It is a crop that is already in a very final stage, the rain does not change the quality of the grape, because it is ready to be harvested and others have already been harvested.”
Source: Observadora
